How to compile a list of all Early Buddhist Texts?

The problem is a matter of definition. To draw up a simple, general list like this is not too hard. But when you get into the nitty gritty of the details, things get complicated quickly. There are things in the four nikayas, for example, that are later than some things in the Abhidhamma. And what are we to think of late texts that quote from early texts: they are certainly of interest to students of the EBTs, hence we include them on SC, but are they actually EBTs? Hard to say!

Another way to put the list would be negatively. EBTs include everything on SuttaCentral, except:

  • Abhidhamma
  • Much of the Vibhanga material in the Vinayas
  • Late books of KN
  • Late texts in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, which quote EBTs.
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